Hood and grill

[baddawgcustoms]

On your website homepage is a picture of a silver T. Posted the pic below. I'm interested in putting a hood on my car and I really like the look of this car. I'm no sheet metal man, and it would be far easier for me to build the bottom (more flat) part of the hood than the top. Do you sell this hood and grill separately? If you do would you tell me the price of them and length of the hood, and dimensions of the grill shell? My radiator is 18.5 high and 24 tall. It would be going on an RPM 10" stretch body, but the cowl is standard 23 dimensions. thanks for your help ahead of time.

 

[EX JUNK]

On your website homepage is a picture of a silver T. Posted the pic below. I'm interested in putting a hood on my car and I really like the look of this car. I'm no sheet metal man, and it would be far easier for me to build the bottom (more flat) part of the hood than the top. Do you sell this hood and grill separately? If you do would you tell me the price of them and length of the hood, and dimensions of the grill shell? My radiator is 18.5 high and 24 tall. It would be going on an RPM 10" stretch body, but the cowl is standard 23 dimensions. thanks for your help ahead of time.

It looks like the grill shell is a '28-'29 Model A in the picture.

Jim

 

[bobs66440]

It looks like the grill shell is a '28-'29 Model A in the picture.

Jim

I agree.

 

[baddawgcustoms]

I gree with you both, and still on the fence about the hood. Some cars I've seen I really like a hood on and others not so much. I think with the stretch body it may look to long with the hood on mine. I'll probably mock up a hood once I get the body from Ron in a couple weeks and see. Looks pretty good on this one in the picture. IMHO

 

[EX JUNK]

I gree with you both, and still on the fence about the hood. Some cars I've seen I really like a hood on and others not so much. I think with the stretch body it may look to long with the hood on mine. I'll probably mock up a hood once I get the body from Ron in a couple weeks and see. Looks pretty good on this one in the picture. IMHO

I don't know if you are aware of a simple way to mock up a hood to see if you like the look or not but masking tape works great. Simply stretch the tape from the grill shell to the firewall and stand back and see if you like the look. "Standing back" is something that you should occasionally during your build and I don't mean in the garage, take it outside. You'd be surprised at what you'll see. You'll see that maybe your grill shell sits higher than the firewall, which is a pet peeve of mine, perhaps the rear of the car sits lower than the front etc.

Jim

 

[RESINATOR]

The Hood on that car is made of aluminum and hinges from the passenger side. We do not offer a hood for the roadsters. That was made specifically for that car ,actually the hood in that picture is the first one and I did not like the angle of the lower edge so I made a new one. The length is very important to the look along with the rake.
We have tried to use premade (Rootlieb) hoods on some of our later model stuff but found it was better and cheaper in the end to just build (or have built) a hood that fits the height and shapes on each car. Out here a hood top from a good metal man could be anywhere from $350 to $1000 depending on how you want it fastened and hinged. I have around 25 hours in that hood but I'm slow.

 

[EX JUNK]

The Hood on that car is made of aluminum and hinges from the passenger side. We do not offer a hood for the roadsters. That was made specifically for that car ,actually the hood in that picture is the first one and I did not like the angle of the lower edge so I made a new one. The length is very important to the look along with the rake.
We have tried to use premade (Rootlieb) hoods on some of our later model stuff but found it was better and cheaper in the end to just build (or have built) a hood that fits the height and shapes on each car. Out here a hood top from a good metal man could be anywhere from $350 to $1000 depending on how you want it fastened and hinged. I have around 25 hours in that hood but I'm slow.

View attachment 8816 View attachment 8817 View attachment 8818 View attachment 8819

That is a pretty sweet ride.

Jim

 

[RESINATOR]

Ex is correct, tape saves a lot of wasted time. The tape shows the angles and the length, that is why we have most hoods built instead of buying something premade. Even something as simple as lowering (or raising) the grill, maybe 3/4" to 1", can change the entire look of the car.

 

[baddawgcustoms]

Ex is correct, tape saves a lot of wasted time. The tape shows the angles and the length, that is why we have most hoods built instead of buying something premade. Even something as simple as lowering (or raising) the grill, maybe 3/4" to 1", can change the entire look of the car.

View attachment 8820 View attachment 8821

Thanks for your help Jerry. Hope you will keep us posted on your build of that car. Agree with Jim again, it's a very well done car. Love to see the pics when you finish it.

 

[Hackerbilt]

Wow...that is a nice looking and very proportional T.

 

[baddawgcustoms]

Wow...that is a nice looking and very proportional T.

As if someone told me "I'm only going to partially channel the body over the frame" I would have said........."uh....do what?" I really dig the way the bottom portion of the frame hangs below the body. Makes it look more "period correct" I guess you could say. I would love to see a few shots from straight on in the front. And close ups the front suspension. Maybe soon?!?

 

[RESINATOR]

The partial channel started because, to me, the longer body needed more height to look right from the side. I started with 2x3 rail tubing and had our glass shop build the body with only a 1" channel on the floor. This started the look heading in the right direction and I proceeded to start over on the frame with 2x4 tubing tapering it from the cowl to the front similar to how we build our A' frames. This got the right proportion of height to length. The initial mock-up looked real good but a few more changes were needed.
I shortened the wheelbase down 4" to 99.5" and put the wheels on, took some photos and hung them on the wall for a few days...

Some bigger changes needed to be made. After some cutting and pasting (I didn't use Photoshop then) I decided that the back of the body was too high and the cowl needed raised to help with the hood line. The first car was body and frame was sold to a customer that kept after me. So I started again, changed a few small chassis designs, and had another body done real heavy so I could cut it up.
The back edge of the body was brought down 2.5", the cowl was raised 1" and a 32 dash was grafted in along with adding a lip for the hood. The trans. tunnel was also raised so the motor could be brought up for ground clearance.

 

[RESINATOR]

Body Modifications.

 

[RESINATOR]

The 29' steel shell was shortened 2.5". Here is a few shots of the front of the car.

 

[Hackerbilt]

The partial channel started because, to me, the longer body needed more height to look right from the side. I started with 2x3 rail tubing and had our glass shop build the body with only a 1" channel on the floor. This started the look heading in the right direction and I proceeded to start over on the frame with 2x4 tubing tapering it from the cowl to the front similar to how we build our A' frames. This got the right proportion of height to length. The initial mock-up looked real good but a few more changes were needed.
I shortened the wheelbase down 4" to 99.5" and put the wheels on, took some photos and hung them on the wall for a few days...

Some bigger changes needed to be made. After some cutting and pasting (I didn't use Photoshop then) I decided that the back of the body was too high and the cowl needed raised to help with the hood line. The first car was body and frame was sold to a customer that kept after me. So I started again, changed a few small chassis designs, and had another body done real heavy so I could cut it up.
The back edge of the body was brought down 2.5", the cowl was raised 1" and a 32 dash was grafted in along with adding a lip for the hood. The trans. tunnel was also raised so the motor could be brought up for ground clearance.

This really reinforces my thoughts on the changes I had in mind for my T. Mine has a wheelbase of 112"...the rear of the body had the collar RAISED 3", and the body lengthened 10" in the cowl.
I planned to drop the collar down to original height (may go more now!) , shorten the cowl 4-6" (by moving the whole body forward after cutting) AND move the rear axle forward to get it closer to the kickup which now intrudes into the body and kills any chance of comfortable seating.
Also, due to the long wheelbase and a low oil pan, the engine needs to come up an 1-2" so I had planned on lifting the body up 2" for clearance and adding a 2" dropped floor for foot room while leaving the under seat area alone to act as a bit of a seat riser. Obviously that would expose the frame and that left me wondering...

It was a LOT to try to comprehend but now, having seen your work...I'm certain my plans are on the right track!!!
Might even go the extra bit and add some frame covers to give more visual depth to the 2x3x3/16 that makes up my frame.
What you've put together isn't a bucket...its definately a T ROADSTER...and its awesome.

 

[butch27]

Jerry: I really like the looks of the cowl. Looks like a 1919 Dodge. Of course they had 2 doors but make for a great Bucket style.